Minnetonka is poised to get a new skate park, after a local teacher and a group of young skaters encouraged city leaders to replace the community's aging facility.
The existing Glen Lake Skate Park, on Excelsior Boulevard, is over a decade old. Its ramps are dangerous to ride on, and equipment is sinking into the blacktop.
"They currently have a very small — and I won't even call it a park — we call it 'the skate spot,' because it's just some kind of old, shoddy equipment that never gets used," said Else Goll, a math teacher at Minnetonka Middle School East who helped students advocate for a new skate park.
The City Council is scheduled to give feedback Dec. 7 on plans for the new park, which will be five times bigger than the existing, 4,000-square-foot park. The new facility is expected to open in fall 2024, according to city staff. Three to four potential sites are being considered, though the city has not yet made them public.
The updated skate park is estimated to cost $1 million to design and construct. Of that, $600,000 will come from Minnetonka's Community Investment Fund, $300,000 from state and county grants and $100,000 from the city's Park & Trail Improvement Fund.
The park will likely be a hybrid of two styles: a traditional street plaza style with rails and stair sets, as well as a more flow-based design with smaller skate bowls, said Matt Kumka, Minnetonka's park and trail project manager. Plans will incorporate public art and environmental sustainability, he said.
"This could end up being a pretty special regional park that isn't like anything else in the Twin Cities," Goll said.
Minnetonka is one of 35 cities in Minnesota looking to build new skate parks, said Paul Forsline, president of City of Skate, a nonprofit organization advocating for more skate parks throughout the Twin Cities. The group has lobbied the state Legislature for a $15 million grant program that would provide matching funds for skate park construction and renovation.
